Twilight

Twilight Saga: Eclipse is the third movie in the Twilight series, directed by
David Slade. Compared to the movies before this one, Eclipse is different in the
fact that the characters have finally discovered how to truly act out their parts.
As the movie opens, Victoria is seen turning a boy named Riley, into a newborn
vampire. Her point in doing this is to begin her plot in killing Bella. Having an
army of newborn vampires is Victoria’s idea of getting the job done quickly. This
dark opening scene starts the movie out with a sort of suspense, especially if a
viewer has not yet read the book. In the midst of all of this, Bella desires nothing
more than to become a vampire. Edward, on the other hand, refuses to let this happen
until they are perfectly married. Jacob is still in the mix of things and is
constantly seen confessing his love to Bella. There is one scene in particular where
Bella is mad at Edward for not telling her Victoria’s evil plan. Jacob is standing
in their circle, posted up against his motorcycle, listening to them argue. To evoke
some jealousy within Edward, Bella has no problem with getting on the back of
Jacob’s motorcycle to go have a private conversation. This is important because it
shows how this work is arguing to prove that a guy on a motorcycle has a different
kind of strength and power to take control.

Eclipse does a great job in proving that
there can be friendly relations between the werewolves and the Cullens. For example,
when Edward realized that an unknown newborn vampire had been sneaking around
Bella’s house, the werewolves were happy to guard the home while the Cullen’s went
to hunt. Although Edward and Jacob are still not considered to be friends, they will
do anything and everything in their power to protect Bella. Towards the end of the
movie Jacob tells Bella, “I’m going to fight for you.” This is another example as to
how the director is trying to prove what this work is arguing for. Slade constantly
alludes to everything in the movie as a constant battle; therefore, strength/power
is a must. Jacob tries to kiss her, but Bella is furious. After spraining her hand
from punching him, Jacob still, never stops fighting for her. Edward proposes to
Bella, but they must keep it a secret from Jacob until after the fight. When the
newborns finally come, the Cullens are prepared because of Jasper’s training.
Although Jacob finds out about the proposal, he still fights for Bella. Edward
finally kills Victoria and the movie ends with Edward and Bella talking about their
excitement to marry each other.

Overall, Eclipse manages to bring more action to the
series, while keeping a good balance between the violence and romance that takes
place throughout. Because of the constant switching between love scenes and fighting
scenes, the viewer never becomes disinterested. The music and sounds keeps the
audience engaged as well. Eclipse also does a great job in avoiding becoming a chick
flick. Although love is a huge part of this movie, the fighting scenes are sure to
keep guys on their toes too. Slade,

“The Twilight Saga” that made people fall in love with it’s intriguing characters
and made teen (and grown women’s) hearts melt over the compelling love story between
a vampire and an ordinary girl is back with its latest edition, “Eclipse.” This is
the best movie of the series yet, packed with action and an interesting love
triangle that will keep you on your toes. Whether you are Team Edward, like me, or
Team Jacob you are sure to be satisfied or possibly even a little frustrated at
times.

Being that Vampires are now a genre all their own, “Twilight,” compared to TV
shows such as “The Vampire Diaries” and “True Blood,” is the most popular vampire
film out there right now, and I can see why. There is something about the
supernatural and realistic combination that has women drooling over this series,
especially in this third installment. The intriguing love triangle between Bella
(Kristen Stewart), Edward (Robert Pattinson), and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) really
begins to heat up. Bella has her mind made up on being turned into a vampire so she
can be eternally attached to Edward, but Jacob pleads that she “wouldn’t have to
change for him.” Jacob ditches the long locks and beefs up for his part in this
edition. Accompanied by his motorcycle, Jacob’s newfound ethos comes across as cocky
but has teen viewers gawking. However, his relentless and forceful pleading to Bella
gets to be annoying and frustrating after a while.

The introduction of a new vampire clan (newborns) adds some intensity to the movie and will keep you on the edge of
your seat. It is suspected that Victoria is the one who created the clan in order to
kill Bella to get revenge on Edward for killing her mate. The Cullen’s and the
werewolves must come together to battle the newborns in order to protect Bella. This
puts an unexpected twist in the plot since vampires and werewolves are natural born
enemies. The fight scene was a little weak and short considering how much the
Cullen’s and werewolves prepared for battle and how anticipated it was meant to be.
I found it to be somewhat disappointing. However the special effects were epic and
the camera angle made it seem as though you were caught in the middle of the battle.

Under the direction of David Slade, this film has had a tremendous growth from the
previous ones. The acting is better than the previous films and the actors have also
grown into their characters better. As a Twi-Hard, it’s hard to find a reason why
anyone would dislike this movie.

Devoted readers and fans of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, brace yourself.
After falling in love with the handsome vampire and dreamy Edward and wishing you
were Bella, “New Moon” the movie makes you look at the book’s characters and story
line in a whole new light—a rather faint and dim one.

Directed by Chris Weitz, the
second film in the Twilight series begins on Bella’s 18th birthday in the town of
Forks, Washington. Edward Cullen--Bella’s true love--and his family throw her a
party and while opening a gift, Bella, played by Kristen Stewart, cuts her finger.
Unable to hold himself back from the taste of human blood, Edward’s brother, Jasper,
attempts to kill Bella. After Edward, played by Robert Pattinson, fends him off,
Carlisle, a doctor and father to Edward, bandages Bella’s wounds. Edward soon
reveals that he and his family must leave town without her to protect her by
preventing an incident like Jasper’s outburst from happening again.

As viewers
follow Bella throughout the following months, we watch her experience depression and
moroseness from Edward’s absence. However, when she invites Jacob Black, the
werewolf heartthrob, back into her life, Bella is lifted out of her lifeless and
emotionless state. Played by Taylor Lautner, Jacob spends hours with Bella while
fixing up her battered motorcycle. When he pulls off his shirt, Lautner exposes his
hard abs and newly formed biceps that don’t only catch Bella’s eye but any gooey,
heart-struck teenage girl’s.

If you were deeply connected to the book and Meyer’s
characters, you’ll probably find yourself detached from the film’s. As seen in the
first movie, Stewart appears yet again too tough and masculine for the frail Bella
conveyed in the novel. The only glimpse of her innocence observed in the movie was
during a scene that caused an immediate uproar of laughter that I almost needed a
tissue to wipe my eyes. When Alice has a vision that Bella will become a vampire in
the future, we see Bella frolic through the forest with Edward, both of them wearing
white, loose clothing as their vampire skin glitters in the sunlight. What exactly
was Weitz thinking when he decided to dress the couple like peasant children running
blissfully in slow motion? If he was trying to incite sheer amusement than he
definitely succeeded. The movie Bella and Edward seem nothing other than angelic and
carefree children running through the forest, a completely different portrayal than
that which was conveyed through the novel.

But the laughs do not stop there. When
Jacob comes into Bella’s house to see that she is safe from any vampires, he finds
her with Alice. They get in an argument, Jacob saying “You don’t want to make me
upset. Things could get very ugly.” Again, rather than let the audience feel for the
characters, we end up poking fun at their reactions. Lautner’s inflection and facial
expressions distract from our ability to fully connect with his character. We are
left chuckling at his rather poorly delivered comeback and are unconvinced of his
genuineness to say the least.

Fans of Meyer’s books, don’t set your standards too
high; you’ll most likely be let down. “New Moon” clearly did not shine bright. What
should have been a sentimental and heartfelt movie was rather a humorous and poorly
filmed one. Compared to the first film, Weitz did not accomplish much more than the
original director, Catherine Hardwicke, whose film failed to meet the expectations
of book lovers like myself; let’s hope that Weitz or director of the next book,
Eclipse, proves the past trend wrong.

New Moon, the second movie of the series, continues the story of a relationship
between a human girl in high school, Bella Swan, and her vampire lover, Edward
Cullen. The movie begins with Edward leaving Bella behind due to a series of events
that causes Edward to believe staying with Bella would be harmful to her. Bella goes
on to suffer from a state of depression until she begins to hang out with her friend
Jacob Black. We later find out that Jacob, a werewolf, hates vampires and vice
versa. Through a series of misunderstandings, Edward believes that Bella has killed
herself and he attempts to do the same. These events lead to Bella having to try and
save Edward before it’s too late.

The basis of New Moon follows the interactions
between Bella and Jacob since Edward leaves at the beginning of the movie and does
not return until near the end. This differs from the first movie, where the audience
focuses on the interactions between Bella and Edward. Nancy Gibbs, the author of a
review of New Moon for Time Magazine, states how “the worst thing about New Moon the
book is the best thing about New Moon the movie” (para 3), referring to the focus on
Jacob rather than Edward.

Gibbs continues to go on to give her take on Edward,
describing his appearance as “pale passion and tortured restraint [with]… eyebrows,
like muskrats determined to mate, [hunched] together in the middle of his sunken
face, [and] the few times he smiles, it looks as if it hurts” (para 3). Gibbs
contrasts Edward by describing Jacob as “warm, tawny, genial and [being] able to get
Kristen Stewart's shrink-wrapped Bella to stretch out and relax a little onscreen”
(para 4).

Gibbs has a pretty strong sense of ethos, being a writer for Time
Magazine, but it takes a blow based on her descriptions of the main characters.
These descriptions of the two love interests of the protagonist Bella are somewhat
exaggerated but justifiable based on what we see on screen. Although justifiable,
clearly Gibbs had an extreme bias towards Jacob, which makes her review less
credible to the die hard Edward fans. The Twilight series has created a “Team Jacob”
and “Team Edward” fan base, and the harsh criticism of Edward’s character does not
favor well among “Team Edward” fans.

The movie’s overall appeal targets teenage
females with the series focusing on the love between a girl and two males and her
struggle to decide who to be with. Although the producer targets females as the
primary audience of the film, this does not mean that males cannot enjoy the movie
as well. New Moon incorporates action and fight scenes and moves along at a good
pace. The movie has plenty pathos appeals on the sides of romance and action.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse was released this past summer in theaters. The film is
based on Stephenie Meyer’s 2007 novel, Eclipse, and it picks up from the previous
book, New Moon. Immediately, the first scene portrays Victoria in the process of
creating her newborn army of vampires. Through the creation of an army, Victoria is
attempting to exact revenge against Edward, the Cullen vampire who killed her
eternal mate. However, Victoria specifically targets Bella instead because by
killing Edward’s love, she may truly achieve the vengeance she had been desperately
craving.

On the other hand, the love story continues with Edward and Bella who are
very much in love. Bella is in the process of contemplating about becoming a vampire
and finally marrying Edward but Jacob will not allow it. Jacob attempts to interfere
with Edward and Bella’s relationship due to his own feelings for Bella that started
in New Moon. He claims that Bella is making a mistake and that she would not have to
change for his love, as opposed to becoming a vampire for all eternity. Upon
discovering Jacob’s true intentions, Edward then becomes enraged and creates a
situation where Bella begins to distrust him. She then considers Jacob’s reasons to
be with him and stay human.

Eventually, the love story becomes intertwined with the
upcoming war and both werewolves and Cullen vampires reluctantly join forces to
protect Bella and defeat Victoria. The overwhelmingly powerful newborn vampires, led
by Victoria, are a force to be reckoned with but Jacob and Edward continue to focus
on the fight for Bella’s love. As both clans of vampires and werewolves prepare for
the imminent battle, Bella is battling her own mixed-feelings for Jacob and Edward.
Bella knows Victoria is coming for her and yet she does not dismiss Jacob’s advances
which creates a dramatic and competitive atmosphere, in the midst of battle.
However, when Victoria and her army finally arrive, Edward and Jacob’s collective
efforts successfully protect Bella and defeat Victoria and her army. In the battle,
Jacob suffers mortal injuries and in spite of this, Bella’s concern for Jacob’s
injuries resumes a platonic role. Edward wins Bella’s love, again.